IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jecomi/v13y2025i7p190-d1693375.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Achieving a More Inclusive Financial System: What Does the MENA Region Need? A Sensitivity Analysis for GCC and Non-GCC Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Abdelaziz Hakimi

    (V.P.N.C Lab and Faculty of Law, Economics, and Management of Jendouba, University of Jendouba, Jendouba 8100, Tunisia)

  • Hichem Saidi

    (Department of Economics, College of Business, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh 13318, Saudi Arabia)

  • Lamia Adili

    (V.P.N.C Lab and Faculty of Law, Economics, and Management of Jendouba, University of Jendouba, Jendouba 8100, Tunisia)

Abstract

Achieving a more inclusive financial system is crucial to unlocking economic opportunities, reducing inequality, and ensuring that no person will be excluded from access and usage of financial and banking services. Even if financial services are widely available in some areas, others, especially in developing nations, have low levels of financial inclusion and continue to confront obstacles that restrict economic growth and participation. This study examines the key factors influencing financial inclusion by analyzing 74 banks across 10 MENA countries from 2010 to 2021. It performs the System Generalized Method of Moments (SGMM) technique as an empirical approach. The results indicate that economic growth, education, infrastructure, and institutional quality have a significant impact on improving the level of financial inclusion in the MENA region. The results of the sensitivity analysis reveal that, in either GCC or non-GCC countries, key determinants include education, infrastructure, institutional quality, and GDP growth, leading to a more inclusive financial system.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdelaziz Hakimi & Hichem Saidi & Lamia Adili, 2025. "Achieving a More Inclusive Financial System: What Does the MENA Region Need? A Sensitivity Analysis for GCC and Non-GCC Countries," Economies, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-19, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:7:p:190-:d:1693375
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/7/190/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7099/13/7/190/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Irma Asyatun, 2018. "Regional And Accessibility Analysis Of The Banking System And Their Impacts Toward Regional Financial Inclusion In Indonesia," Journal of Islamic Monetary Economics and Finance, Bank Indonesia, vol. 4(2), pages 311-332, November.
    2. Leland, Hayne E & Pyle, David H, 1977. "Informational Asymmetries, Financial Structure, and Financial Intermediation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 371-387, May.
    3. Peter W. Muriu, 2021. "Does the Quality of Institutions Matter for Financial Inclusion? Cross Country Evidence," International Journal of Economics and Finance, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 13(7), pages 1-27, June.
    4. Kaiguo Zhou, 2014. "The Effect of Income Diversification on Bank Risk: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(S3), pages 201-213.
    5. Emara, Noha & El Said, Ayah, 2021. "Financial inclusion and economic growth: The role of governance in selected MENA countries," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 34-54.
    6. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    7. Neaime, Simon & Gaysset, Isabelle, 2018. "Financial inclusion and stability in MENA: Evidence from poverty and inequality," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 230-237.
    8. G. Olanrewaju & S. Tella & B. Adesoye, 2019. "Institutional Quality, Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth: Causality Evidence from Nigeria," Economic and Financial Review, Central Bank of Nigeria, vol. 57(3), September.
    9. Josephat Lotto, 2018. "Examination of the Status of Financial Inclusion and Its Determinants in Tanzania," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, August.
    10. Mandira Sarma, 2016. "Measuring Financial Inclusion for Asian Economies," Palgrave Studies in Impact Finance, in: Sasidaran Gopalan & Tomoo Kikuchi (ed.), Financial Inclusion in Asia, chapter 1, pages 3-34, Palgrave Macmillan.
    11. Honohan, Patrick, 2008. "Cross-country variation in household access to financial services," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(11), pages 2493-2500, November.
    12. Gamze Ozturk Danisman & Amine Tarazi, 2020. "Financial inclusion and bank stability: evidence from Europe," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(18), pages 1842-1855, December.
    13. repec:idn:jimfjn:v:4:y:2018:i:2g:p:1-22 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Kaiguo Zhou, 2014. "The Effect of Income Diversification on Bank Risk: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(03), pages 201-213, May.
    15. Douglas W. Diamond, 1984. "Financial Intermediation and Delegated Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 51(3), pages 393-414.
    16. G. Olanrewaju & S. Tella & B. Adesoye, 2019. "Institutional Quality, Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth: Causality Evidence from Nigeria," Economic and Financial Review, Central Bank of Nigeria, vol. 57(3), September.
    17. Noelia Camara & David Tuesta & Pablo Urbiola Ortun, 2015. "Extending access to the formal financial system: the banking correspondent business model," Working Papers 1510, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wang, Rui & Luo, Hang (Robin), 2022. "How does financial inclusion affect bank stability in emerging economies?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    2. Umar Muhammad & Sun Gang, 2016. "Non-performing loans (NPLs), liquidity creation, and moral hazard: Case of Chinese banks," China Finance and Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 5(3), pages 51-75, September.
    3. Wang, Chunyang & Lin, Yongjia, 2021. "Income diversification and bank risk in Asia Pacific," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    4. Wenlian Gao & Feifei Zhu & Kai Chen, 2023. "The role of bank lenders in firm leverage adjustments," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 46(1), pages 63-97, February.
    5. Giyoh G. Nginyu & Dobdinga C. Fonchamnyo & Boniface N. Epo & Simplice A. Asongu, 2023. "The effects of institutional quality and biocapacity on inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers 23/044, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    6. Haykel Zouaoui & Faten Zoghlami, 2023. "What do we know about the impact of income diversification on bank performance? A systematic literature review," Journal of Banking Regulation, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 24(3), pages 286-309, September.
    7. Samia Nasreen & Faryal Ishtiaq & Aviral Kumar Tiwari, 2025. "The role of ICT diffusion and institutional quality on financial inclusion in Asian region: empirical analysis using panel quantile regression," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1685-1752, June.
    8. Neaime, Simon & Gaysset, Isabelle, 2024. "Financial inclusion, integration, and stability asymmetries in the Mediterranean region," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    9. İbrahim Yarba & Z. Nuray Güner, 2020. "Leverage dynamics: Do financial development and government leverage matter? Evidence from a major developing economy," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(5), pages 2473-2507, November.
    10. Shoaib Nisar & Ke Peng & Susheng Wang & Badar Nadeem Ashraf, 2018. "The Impact of Revenue Diversification on Bank Profitability and Stability: Empirical Evidence from South Asian Countries," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-25, April.
    11. Aggarwal, Raj & Goodell, John W., 2009. "Markets and institutions in financial intermediation: National characteristics as determinants," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1770-1780, October.
    12. Shabir, Mohsin & Jiang, Ping & Shahab, Yasir & Wang, Wenhao & Işık, Özcan & Mehroush, Iqra, 2024. "Diversification and bank stability: Role of political instability and climate risk," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PB), pages 63-92.
    13. Hakimi, Abdelaziz & Hamdi, Helmi, 2013. "Credit Information, Guarantees and Non-Performing Loans," MPRA Paper 55750, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    14. Ghosh, Amit, 2020. "Discerning the impact of disaggregated non-interest income activities on bank risk and profits in the post-Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act era," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    15. Gimet, Céline & Lagoarde-Segot, Thomas, 2012. "Financial sector development and access to finance. Does size say it all?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 316-337.
    16. Muri Wole Adedokun & Mehmet Ağa, 2023. "Financial inclusion: A pathway to economic growth in Sub‐Saharan African economies," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 2712-2728, July.
    17. Azofra, Valentín & Santamaría, Marcos, 2011. "Ownership, control, and pyramids in Spanish commercial banks," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1464-1476, June.
    18. Mohd Daud, Siti Nurazira & Ahmad, Abd Halim & Trinugroho, Irwan, 2024. "Financial inclusion, digital technology, and economic growth: Further evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(PB).
    19. Rojas Cama, Freddy A. & Emara, Noha, 2022. "Financial inclusion and gross capital formation: A sectoral analysis approach for the MENA region and EMs," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    20. Berger, Allen N. & Öztekin, Özde & Roman, Raluca A., 2023. "Geographic deregulation and bank capital structure," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:13:y:2025:i:7:p:190-:d:1693375. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.